Current biocompatible polymer systems are being used for controlled drug delivery, scaffolds in tissue engineering and structural supports. These biocompatible polymers provide tissue compatibility, acceptable mechanical properties and low toxicity. Although many of advances have been made in this field, new polymeric systems are very much needed in order to develop new surgical adhesives, nonfouling surfaces and tissue engineering scaffolds. Our laboratory has been designing and synthesizing of new biocompatible polymer systems. We take our inspiration from marine biological adhesives. The adhesive produced by marine mussels is based upon a cross-linked matrix of proteins. We have developed synthetic polymeric mimics of the biological system. The goal of the work proposed here is to design new cross-linking polymers that will be used for surgical adhesives. In order to do so, we will design and synthesize polymers that contain biological cross-linking groups. These cross-linking groups will be placed into standard polymer backbones, thereby generating mimics of marine biological adhesives. We are proposing the use of several cross-linkable groups that mimic amino acids (e.g., catechol) with polylactic acid (PLA) for the backbone. The resulting materials will exhibit improved mechanical and biocompatible properties. Our laboratory will engage in studies to see how the presence of different cross-linkable groups (catechol, thiol, amine) affects the adhesive properties of this copolymer. The utility of these polymers will be enhanced by the tunability from synthetic access to variations in the polymer composition. The synthesis of these new polymers could be essential for development of new surgical adhesives and tissue engineering scaffolds.